Has it really been a month?

Well, we're headed into fall and the "come back to church" season, so we're busy around here. Which shows, as I haven't blogged in a month.

I'm home alone tonight. And I was last night, too!
Eric blessed me by allowing me to stay home as he took the children up north to "the cabin" Sunday night thru Tue. evening. While I'm missing the fun family relaxing time, I needed some time to shampoo rugs, clean the house, and generally get a break from the constant "mommy" demands. Mind you, I never need a break from their daddy :-) but every now & then it's good for a mom to have some down time. And I've been blessed with it these couple of days.

We just finished our second annual VAMP weekend (Volunteer Appreciation & Ministry Preparation). Friday night was the big volunteer appreciation dinner. It was held at the same hall as Chrissie's wedding, and we even used the same caterer. Plus we did some hilarious entertainment, and then Eric did a "thank you" talk, plus vision casting for the fall, and we showed a video Dave produced which held highlights from interviews with folks whose lives have been impacted by the church. It was really fun--the staff dressed up in suits & gowns, and we welcomed people over the sound system as they entered on the "red carpet" & took their pics & treated them like stars. It's funny how embarrassed people can get when you highlight them in front of people. And then there are folks like me (and Brit and Eric and Dave and Brian and Brad) who THRIVE on being in front of people. :-)

Britney and I (both fair singers who rarely get to sing in public) did our own re-written rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings", and our new staff guy, Jared, did some backup vocals for us. Such fun.

We welcomed the "starving Jesus" tour to our church on Sunday (www.starvingjesus.com), to co-speak with Eric about serving others, both within the church as well as in the community. We had over 320 people at church Sunday, which is well above expected for summer. God is doing some amazing things at the Movie Theater Church. Sola Deo Gloria!

Braden says he's not thrilled about school starting next week, but I think he'll be glad to have something regular to do after a "boring" summer. Holland is excited...and has her TinkerBell backpack packed & ready to go. Aidan says he doesn't like school, but I think he's getting the idea too, as he'll go back to "preschool" two days/week starting next week also. I'm glad because it will give me defined times again for work, which should help me to keep balance better.

Oh, the cabin they're at is in Remer, MN, about 2 hours away, and we have been blessed with the use of it as the family who owns it would only go on weekends, and we (obviously) could only go on weekdays. It is a lovely little place on a small lake with no one else in sight. There's a fishing boat (yeah for Eric & Braden), and a big sand pile (yeah for Aidan & Holland). I made my peace with the out house, but last time we were there, the only time Holland used the "restroom" was when she was swimming in the lake. I am hoping she has worked something out this trip. :-) She says that behind a tree is preferable to the out house. :-) The cabin does have electricity, though--stove, fridge, TV, etc., and even a microwave (which is more than can be said about our house!)

I talked to Eric this morning, and Holland had caught her first fish. A sunny, off the dock. The cell phones don't work at the cabin, but he called me when they were driving into town for ice cream & bait.

Britney & I went to a movie tonight, and now I'm going to check & see if the basement rug is dry from the shampooing it got today.

Keep in touch!

And I thought it was hot in Alabama...

Well they said tonight on the 10:00 news that it's supposed to be 103 degrees tomorrow.

We currently have our central air conditioner AND 3 window units on (one in the office) in our home. It is so DANG HOT.

We are veeeerrrry thankful that we have air conditioning. We are heat weenies.

It's quite late, but for the 3 people that read this blog, here's a very quick update...

Eric heads up north for a week long study break. We will miss him TERRIBLY! Some friends lent us their vehicle for him to drive so I won't be carless.

The children are going to VBS at the church at the end of our road from 9-11:45 Mon-Thu next week. This is great, as it will enable me to work uninterrupted with Britney those mornings. We have much work to do in preparation for the fall ad campaign, which will include (for the first time!) a billboard on Highway 10 and a poster case on the front of the theater!

Prayer needed... My lower back is on the fritz. I had trouble walking today... Praying it will pass! But a bigger prayer need... our friend Adam went to the hospital tonight with a fever. You might remember he has cancer. Please pray for Adam & his family!

OK, my husband is snatching the laptop. Like he has something important to do... like a sermon or something... duh...

:-)

Down South and Home Again

Well here's a quick update...

We left on July 9 (after our church potluck) for Des Moines, where we spent the night at the Dykstra home. We left the next morning to drive as far as the St. Louis area (Troy, IL), where we had a room reserved at a Holiday Inn Express, which had a kid room with bunk bed & extra TV for the children (perfect!). That evening, after a yummy dinner (FRIED OKRA!!) at Cracker Barrel, our family went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. While Aidan was a little bored & we had to cover his and Holland's eyes a few times, it was entertaining. I liked the first one better...

Tuesday morning we left Troy & headed for Ft. Payne, AL, where my parents live as house parents for a home for teen/young single moms. We met Melissa and Nicole--the girls who currently live with them--and their cute little ones (an infant & a toddler)--and Eric & dad went fishing right away that evening (of course).

We spent Tue. night at my family home in Mentone, and then Eric and I were blessed with 2 nights at a cabin called Pilgrim's Rest, where the owners of a camp allow ministry couples to stay free of charge! It had a kitchen, so we enjoyed cooking pasta alfredo and crab legs one evening. We swam & did the rope swing in the pond behind the cabin, and we never actually SAW anyone else while we were there! It was VERY COOL. Well, actually it was VERY HOT--but the cabin is air conditioned. :-) It reminded me of the cabin we stayed in on our honeymoon--with a loft bedroom.

The kids stayed with Mom & Dad & Katie while we were gone. They joined us on Friday afternoon to swim in the pond and then at the beach (lake) also. Eric fished a lot, with Dad & Scott (Katie's husband) while we were in AL. The kids got to swim almost daily, and I enjoyed a few Scrabble games with Mom & Katie. It was quite hot, so we were grateful that (after all these years), mom and dad have an air conditioner. (They had Friday afternoon thru Monday evening off from The Way Home, so stayed in Mentone with us.)

Sunday we went to my parents' church. The pastor who married us is still there, but the name has changed & they've really grown since I used to attend there, back in high school. (www.willsvalleycommunitychurch.com is their website, and my parents are on the homepage--they both look a little silly in hats. :-0) Katie is the nursery director there. It was neat to see how much the place has changed, though I only knew like 3 people there anymore. And the quality of their music is FABULOUS!! (That's for you, Butch & Amy.) Seriously, the vocal quality & blend of the musicians was really great.

Naturally, it's a little hard for Eric and I to actually wroship when we attend another church, as our minds naturally seek to glean what we can learn & apply to our church... We did actually come home with a definite change we needed to make at our church based on something we learned at Wills Valley. :-) Always learning!

Anyhoo, we left AL on Monday evening, and drove to Paducah, KY, where we had a beautiful hotel suite (kids in the other room again!), and enjoyed a hot breakfast & the swimming pool (all to ourselves!) in the morning--and even got a really late checkout. We arrived home exactly 12 hours later-- our longest driving day of the whole trip.

WE WERE GLAD TO BE BACK IN MINNESOTA!!! It was SO FREAKIN' HOT in Alabama. :-)

We're getting back into the swing of things here, and I just bought Holland her Tinkerbell backpack for school. She is SOO excited.

God Bless!

Strep Throat and ValleyFair...in reverse order

It looks like I was a fairly faithful blogger for a while there... Sigh...

But, hey, here I am again, and I'm mostly doing this because of 2 things: 1. I have strep throat & can do little else, and 2. I have some great pictures from ValleyFair to share with you.

So let's get the strep thing out of the way first. It hit me like a ton of bricks on Wednesday at about 2 pm. By Thursday evening I had a temp of 103.2, but was still rebelling against going to the doc; using some natural things instead. THEN I looked at my throat, and...well, I'll spare you the details... and THEN during another night of very little sleep due to the intensity of my fever, chills, sweating, blah, blah, blah... I decided I must go to the doctor. Went Friday morning (since by then I knew it had to be strep).

Yep. Got a prescription, and while I began today (Saturday) still in fairly bad shape, as the day has progressed, so has my health. My energy is still severly lacking, and I probably won't swim at tomorrow's baptism & picnic at the lake...but I'm no longer contagious, and I can WALK (albeit slowly). Praise God for giving us the good wisdom to do what we need to on occasion, despite what we'd prefer. And for a husband who is so kind and generous with his time and energies (even if he's not the most sympathetic soul in the world--neither am I--) and for Holland and Aidan who made--and cleared the table from--their own supper the night Eric & Braden were gone to a supper meeting & soccer. My family is wonderful!

ANYWAY... We went to ValleyFair Monday to celebrate Eric & Aidan's birthdays (Sunday & Monday, respectively). We got there about 11 am, and left around 9 pm. We had supper & birthday cake & presents in the grass by the parking lot. You might notice I forgot a lighter, so Aidan pretended to blow the candles out. :-) So here are some of my favorite pictures from our day. (You can click on a pic to enlarge it.) The final picture cracks Eric & I up, because it so perfectly describes our 3 children's personalities: Holland: "Wheeeee!!!" (free spirit); Aidan: "Hee hee hee...I'm up to something that's gonna ROCK!"; and Braden: "I don't know if this is a good idea. Give me the details and let me decide."

Scroll down and look. You'll get it. Have a great week!

Spoke Too Soon

Well, I spoke too soon about the whole "my sunburn doesn't hurt too bad" thing. We're on, what, day 4 now? And I'm still limited as to what I can wear on my upper half. Give me a couple of days & I'll be leaving a trail of skin wherever I walk.

It's peaceful here right now... The children are bonding over a Disney video before bed, and Eric is at Celebrate Recovery. I expect him home earlier than usual tonight, as the leadership there is becoming quite competent... Eric is needed to do some of the speaking, but the rest of the leaders there are capable of doing everything else. This program has been totally God... I know I've said it before, but I'm just so amazed at how He surrounded us with people (recovering addicts) who have a passion to help others like themselves... We would never have guessed that we'd have a ministry such as this--and really, we don't. THEY do. These wonderful 8-10 people who are so passionate...they simply wouldn't let us NOT do this. Wow... it's so neat to watch God work.

Speaking of work, Tim Olson (our friend, church elder, and electrician) worked on our new office some more today. Slowly but surely it's coming together... and believe it or not, we don't even miss that storage area in the garage. It's incentive to keep getting rid of stuff, and, hey, if you have to STORE it, do you really NEED it????? "Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths & rust (& mold) destroy..." As my dad says, "It's all gonna burn anyway..."

Speaking of my parents, it's my mom's 49th birthday today! Woooo hoooo! I told her she's getting old. She told me she was only 47 a year ago yesterday. I told her she'll be 50 a year from today. :-)

Tomorrow is Holland & Aidan's last day of "school." Aidan will return to Leaps 'n' Bounds in the fall for 2-3 days/week, but Holland will join Braden at Kaleidoscope Charter School for all-day-every-day kindergarten in the fall. I'm considering hiring a nanny of sorts for June-August, to help out around here with H & A on days that I need to work. Having Britney here 4 days/week in the office has absolutely saved my sanity. She's FABULOUS!!! And we're never going to let her leave us. (Said selfishly, only half-jokingly...) :-)

We're due for a thunderstorm, I think! How exciting!

God Bless!

Dip me in Ranch...I'm fried...

Well, whaddaya know... I'm the schmuck who got the sunburn yesterday. I sat in the sun for what seemed like a brief time, but apparently it was too long. My chest/shoulders and legs are fried. Sigh. I'm gonna do everything I can to keep from peeling, but it's probably a losing battle. The good thing: it wasn't bad enough to hurt. It's just kinda itchy and warm.

Braden caught himself five fish yesterday. A couple of them were 20-25 inch Northern. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

We all went to soccer with Braden last night. Again, we're very impressed with the coaching in this program. It's a drive, but Eric and I are both glad we missed the TRSA sign up this year (the local program he's been in for 2 years). Anoka's program -- and his coach -- is fantastic!

Well, it's a work day today. It's so cool to have 5 staff people here for Tuesday staff meetings now! Whoopeeee! God is GOOD!!!

Good Day for a Sprinkler

Ever since Eric told Aidan once that it was a "good day for ..." (I don't know what the original phrase was), Aidan likes to use the phrase. I asked him one (very cold) day why he was wearing shorts. "It's a good day for shorts," he told me.

Well, he and Holland have been begging for about a month (in like 50 degree weather, mind you) to get out the swimming pool. Today was my first day to sit out in the sun with the intent of getting some color on these pasty white legs (the temp is supposed to hit 80 today), and yep, here they came, "Can we go swimming?" No. "Can we play in the sprinkler?" No...well, ok. We have well water. VERY COLD well water. I knew this would be a great idea, but only for a short time. They got all swimsuited up and had a blast avoiding the sprinkler while I finished reading The DaVinci Code. (It's FICTION, people!!!) Now Aidan's in bed, and Holland is taking her turn on the long-awaited laptop.

Consistent with our relaxed approach to school, Eric picked Braden up at 1:05 and brought him home to get the boat & go fishing. Hope it's a successful & enjoyable trip for them...and hope they don't get sunburnt. At least they're wearing hats.

Speaking of DaVinci, we addressed the topic Sunday at church, with three guest professors: One from Northwestern College (my alma mater), one from Crown College, and one from the University of St. Thomas (Catholic). We had a great attendance (answer to prayer), and an excellent opportunity to hear these very intelligent men absolutely demolish Dan Brown's claims in the book. Eric interviewed the professors, asking relevant questions... It was very good. By tomorrow it should be online on our church website for your listening pleasure. But my thoughts on the whole thing? IT'S FICTION! Though the historical "explanations" can really confuse one who reads it as if Brown actually did research for accurate information. Which he did not.

Anyhoo, I took Holland to the performing line recital last night at the place where she performed last week. Our seats weren't super, but she loved watching the show. I think she was a little jealous during the finale, since she knew that dance (it was the same finale as her show). I think she was thinking, "I should be up there!" :-) But we had a fun time, just the two of us, and I'm glad I took her. She was able to see her teachers dance & give them hugs during the intermission.

Braden has soccer tonight, so we're letting him skip his school choir concert. Eric despised choir concerts when he was a kid, so apparently it's not high on his priority list for Braden, either. Holland will be another story. :-)

God bless you today! Don't forget to pray for our friend Adam. He gets a CT scan today, I believe, and we'll hear results tomorrow before he starts chemo. God can do miracles! Pray!